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Friday, July 10, 2015

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PlanetiQ tests sensor for commercial weather satellites

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL (Reuters) - PlanetiQ, a privately owned company, is beginning a key test intended to pave the way for the first commercial weather satellites. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company is among a handful of startups designing commercial weather satellite networks, similar to what companies like DigitalGlobe, Planet Labs and Google Inc's Skybox Imaging are undertaking in the sister commercial satellite industry of remote sensing. "I think weather is the next big market," PlanetiQ's chief executive and president, Anne Hale Miglarese, said.

'The Wait' Is Nearly Over: New Video Highlights July 14 Pluto Flyby

NASA is doing its best to make sure everyone knows that a historic spaceflight event is just around the corner. The space agency has released a video called "The Wait" to call further attention to the New Horizons spacecraft's epic flyby of Pluto on July 14. That wait has been a long one: Pluto was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, and researchers have learned little about the frigid world in the eight and a half decades since.

Buzzkill: global warming shrinks range of pollinating bumblebees

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global warming is shrinking the terrain where bumblebees live in North America and Europe, with these vital pollinators departing the southernmost and hottest parts of their ranges while failing to move north into cooler climes, scientists say. The researchers found no evidence pesticide use or habitat destruction were to blame, instead implicating rising temperatures recorded since climate change began accelerating in the 1970s. "This is the 'climate vise,'" said University of Ottawa biologist Jeremy Kerr, with the bumblebees "stuck at the northern edges of ranges while the southern edges are crushed inward and those populations are lost." "Bumblebees are declining incredibly fast and the fingerprints of human-caused climate change are all over these changes," Kerr added.

Bear necessities: low metabolism lets pandas survive on bamboo

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Giant pandas eat vegetables even though their bodies are better equipped to eat meat. The critically endangered panda is the only one of the world's eight bear species with a vegetarian diet. The researchers studied three wild pandas at Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi province and five captive pandas at the Beijing Zoo.

Cause of SpaceX Rocket Explosion Still Unknown, Elon Musk Says

Elon Musk has been speaking with reporters about the June 28 explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, but the company CEO has not been able to offer any insight as to what went wrong. While attending a conference event in Sun Valley, Idaho, Musk told reporters that he and his company did not yet know what caused the June 28 failure of a Falcon 9 rocket, which exploded a few minutes after liftoff. The rocket was carrying a Dragon cargo capsule filled with supplies for the International Space Station.

How Hungry Pitcher Plants Get the Poop They Need

Pitcher plants that "eat" bat poop have come up with a unique way to attract their meal tickets, new research finds: The plants are shaped to stand out against a bat's echolocation cries. The pitcher plant Nepenthes hemsleyana grows in the peat forests of Borneo and is a common roost for bats of the species Kerivoula hardwickii. Researchers had previously found that the bats and the pitcher plants have a mutually beneficial relationship: The plants provide a comfy roost with few parasites and an ideal microclimate, and the bats poop in the plants.

Giant Pandas' Lazy Lifestyle Justified by Science

Giant pandas have an insatiable hankering for bamboo, but scientists have long wondered how the bears survive on such a fibrous and low-nutrient plant. Now, a new study finds that giant pandas have clever ways to conserve energy, including having lazy lifestyles, small organs and special genes. The researchers followed five captive and three wild giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) for about a year.

Earth's Groundwater Basins Are Running Out of Water

One-third of Earth's largest groundwater basins are under threat because humans are draining so much water from them, according to two new studies. What's more, researchers say they lack accurate data about how much water remains in these dwindling reservoirs.

Fin Count: Global Shark Census Will Aid Conservation

The giant shark census, dubbed the Global FinPrint, is expected to last three years and involves surveying more than 400 reef locations around the world. Researchers will use underwater cameras on the ocean floor to capture images of sharks and other animals as they pass by, and the scientists are calling on boaters, sailors and other ocean lovers to help get this equipment into position, according to the Global FinPrint website. While those involved with the project don't expect to count every shark in the ocean, they do hope to get a better sense of shark numbers in certain areas of the world where statistics about these animals are scarce, according to FIU.

Distant Pluto finally gets its day in the sun

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is poised to become the first probe to visit distant Pluto, capping a reconnaissance of the solar system that began more than 50 years ago. The 3 billion-mile (5 billion-km) journey to Pluto, an unexpectedly peach-hued world with contrasting dark and light regions across its face, has taken more than nine years. Clipping along at 9 miles per second (14 km per second), New Horizons awoke in January to begin observations of Pluto and its primary moon, Charon, located beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt region, which was discovered in 1992.

'Star Trek: Axanar' Fan Film Kicks Fundraising into Warp Drive

A crew of "Star Trek" fans is taking the beloved franchise where it's never been before: For a fraction of the cost of a Hollywood film, they plan to create a feature-length production funded by crowdsourcing. The project, called "Star Trek: Axanar", aims to raise $250,000 in 32 days and officially launched Thursday (July 9) on the crowdsourcing website Indiegogo. "For you, the 'Star Trek' fan, Axanar is a return to the type of 'Star Trek' we all grew up on, with a hopeful future where mankind works with other races to explore the stars, via storytelling that is positive and teaches us about ourselves," the new Indiegogo page for the film stated.

Ancient Jellies Had Spiny Skeletons, No Tentacles

Ancient gelatinous animals that resemble Christmas tree ornaments were protected by hard, spiny skeletons and lacked the trademark tentacles of today's jellies, fossils of the long-dead jellyfishlike creatures suggest. This is a startling snapshot of extinct comb jellies, whose modern relatives today are at least 95 percent water and sport soft bodies with no skeletons that are typically trailing tentacles. Soft bodies don't fossilize well, and the geologic evidence for comb jellies and other members of the phylum Ctenophora (true jellyfish belong to the phylum Cnidaria) has been so meager that ancient ctenophores were long suspected to be as soft-bodied as present-day comb jellies.

Pluto 'Totally Different' from Big Moon Charon, New Photos Show

The new images — which were taken late Wednesday (July 8) from a distance of 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) — show that Pluto and Charon are very different bodies, though they circle a common center of gravity and are separated by a mere 12,200 miles (19,640 km), NASA officials said. "These two objects have been together for billions of years, in the same orbit, but they are totally different," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement.

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Thursday, July 9, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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'Mission Pluto' Documentary to Premiere Next Week (Exclusive Video)

Space.com has an exclusive sneak peek at the new "Mission Pluto" documentary, which will premiere next week on the same day that NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first-ever flyby of the dwarf planet. "Mission Pluto" will air on National Geographic Channel at 9 p.m. EDT/8 p.m. CDT on July 14. The timing is appropriate, for the documentary tells the story of New Horizons, which on that very morning will cruise within 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) of Pluto's surface, returning history's first up-close looks at the faraway world.

Powerful Space Telescope Would Scan Alien Planets for Signs of Life

The proposed High Definition Space Telescope, or HDST, would have 25 times the resolution of Hubble and would serve as a "flagship observatory" for the global astronomical community. A new report released Monday (July 6) outlines a broad plan for the telescope. To publicize the report, a panel of scientists involved with the project spoke to the public about the HDST at an event at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), here in New York.

Despite blast, Spacex has time to show readiness for missions: USAF

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Falcon 9 rocket accident last month should not eliminate SpaceX from the competition to launch a new GPS satellite, U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James said on Wednesday, since there would be "plenty of time" to test the rocket before any future launch. James told Reuters in an interview that SpaceX remained certified to participate in the competition, expected to kick off in coming weeks. "If SpaceX were to win, it would be two years before the launch, more or less, and there would be plenty of time to make sure they would be mission ready," James said.

New Squirrel Virus Strain Suspected in Deaths of 3 in Germany

Three people in Germany who worked as squirrel breeders and who all died from brain inflammation may have contracted a new strain of virus from their squirrels, according to a new report of the cases. Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner.

'Safer' Plastics Linked to Health Problems in Kids

Two chemicals commonly used in products such as plastic wrap are linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure and other health problems in children and teens, according to new research. The two chemicals — diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) — were introduced into consumer products as replacements for another similar chemical that had been shown to have detrimental effects on people's health. The two "safer" chemicals are currently used in the manufacturing of plastic wrap, soap, cosmetics and food containers, the researchers said.

Yosemite's Half Dome Rock Just Got Harder to Climb

A towering icon of Yosemite National Park just got a face-lift, as a huge slab of rock recently peeled off Half Dome, possibly changing the route up to the top for climbers. "Our climbing rangers are still assessing the new situation up there, but it does seem like some relatively easy climbing has now been replaced with a blank face of rock," said Greg Stock, a Yosemite National Park geologist and climber.

'Proof' of Little-Known Mass Extinction Found

A little-known mass extinction may have killed up to about 80 percent of all vertebrates on land about 260 million years ago, researchers say. This catastrophic die-off coincided with the onset of volcanism in what is now southern China, which suggests a cause for this calamity, the scientists added. The history of life on Earth is ominously interrupted by mass extinctions.

Short Trip? More People 'Microdosing' on Psychedelic Drugs

For Martijn Schirp, it's a way to make an ordinary day just a little bit better. A former poker player and recent graduate in interdisciplinary science in Amsterdam, Schirp has been experimenting with a new way to take psychedelic drugs: Called microdosing, it involves routinely taking a small fraction of a normal dose of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or magic mushrooms (the latter is legal to purchase in coffeeshops in Amsterdam but not the former). Microdosing has gained a cult following amongst a small group of hallucinogen enthusiasts like Schirp, who now writes at HighExistence.com. Proponents report improvements in perception, mood and focus, minus the trippy tangerine trees and marmalade skies normally associated with psychedelics.

Pluto Flyby Begins: NASA Probe Enters Encounter Phase

NASA's New Horizons probe has officially begun to execute its sequence of Pluto flyby observations as it zooms toward its closest approach to the dwarf planet on July 14. The spacecraft is already collecting data about the Pluto system, and its nine-day flyby sequence will continue through July 16. It's taken more than nine years for the $700 million New Horizons mission to traverse the 3 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) between Earth and Pluto, but the peak of the spacecraft's journey will last a matter of hours.

Space Station Crosses Moon's Face in Stunning New Photo

An amazing new photograph shows the International Space Station (ISS) crossing in front of the bright and seemingly enormous moon. O'Donnell received an alert for the precise to-the-second timing of the space station's flyover online. "The ISS only passed over the moon for 0.33 seconds as it shoots by quite quickly.

Investing in science can be 'the game changer' for development: experts

By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Investing up to 3.5 percent of a nation's gross domestic product (GDP) in science, technology and innovation can be "the game changer" for development, leading experts said on Thursday. Science, technology and innovation (STI) can help alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities, increase income and improve health, scientists advising U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on sustainable development said. "If countries wish to break the poverty cycle and achieve post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, they will have to set up ambitious national minimum target investments for STI," the 26-member Scientific Advisory Board said.

Real-Life Mind Meld? Scientists Link Animal Brains

Recently, neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Medical Center and his colleagues developed the first brain-to-brain interfaces, arrays of microscopic wires implanted in the brains of rats that allowed real-time intercontinental transfer of data between pairs of the rodents. One set of rats would learn to solve movement- or touch-based problems, and their brain activity was recorded as patterns of electrical stimulation that were transferred into the brains of another set of rats, helping the recipient animals solve those problems more quickly. Now, Nicolelis and his colleagues have used brain-to-brain interfaces to create what they call brain networks, or brainets, that can work together to complete simple tasks.

Smoking Marijuana May Affect Weight Gain

Whether smoking marijuana contributes to weight gain may depend on how much pot a person smokes, in addition to other factors such the person's gender, according to a new study. Smoking marijuana often gives people the munchies — a sudden increase in appetite that can make them eat a lot at once — so researchers wanted to examine whether this drive to eat might mean that people who smoke pot put on extra pounds over time. When they reached age 20, the 271 men and 319 women were asked whether they had smoked marijuana in the past year, and if so, how often they smoked.

Organ Transplant Rejections May Not Be Permanent

Organ transplants can save lives, but patients sometimes reject their new organs. Now, experiments in mice surprisingly reveal that there may one day be ways to ensure that patients who previously rejected transplants will be able to accept future ones. Organ rejection happens when the immune system sees a transplanted organ as foreign and attacks it.

Apollo Moon Rocket-Styled Ford Mustang to be Auctioned for Youth Aviation

Ford Motor Company is launching a one-of-a-kind rocket-inspired muscle car to support educating the next generation of aviators. The Saturn V-styled "Apollo Edition Mustang,"donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), is the feature lot being auctioned on July 23 to benefit the not-for-profit organization's youth programs. The black and white (with red trim) pony car will be sold during the EAA's Gathering of Eagles gala, part of AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin.

Venus and Jupiter Put on a Celestial Show This Month

These are the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter. Venus is the brighter of the two, currently magnitude -4.6 on the upside-down brightness scale astronomers use. Jupiter is somewhat fainter at magnitude -1.8, down from a maximum of -2.6 when it was in opposition on Feb. 6.

Nobel medal to be auctioned to help train scientists

A Nobel Prize Medal for medicine awarded to German Jewish refugee Hans Krebs is to be auctioned by Sotheby's to raise money to train scientists, the auction house said on Thursday. Krebs won the medal in 1953 when the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was divided equally between Krebs, for his discovery of the citric acid cycle, and Fritz Lipmann, for work on enzymes. The proceeds are to be used by The Sir Hans Krebs Trust for its work "to provide grants for the support of refugee scientists and the training of young scientists in the biomedical sciences," Sotheby's said.

NASA Hands Over Historic Shuttle Landing Facility For Commercial Use

The Florida runway where space shuttles touched down for nearly 30 years has a new mission. NASA on Monday (June 22) formally transferred control of the Shuttle Landing Facility located at the Kennedy Space Center to Space Florida, the state agency responsible for driving aerospace economic development. The agreement assigns the facility's operation and management to Space Florida for the next 30 years.

US Teens Win International Rocketry Challenge

On June 19, seven middle school and high school students from Russellville City Schools in Alabama took home first place in the International Rocketry Challenge at the 2015 Paris Air Show. To succeed time after time, the students had to make the volatile rocket launches as predictable as possible. "About four days before we got ready to leave for Paris, we crashed three rockets in a row, and those were the rockets we were planning on using," Andrew Heath, a rising high school senior and captain of the Russellville team, told Space.com.

NASA Assigns 4 Astronauts to Commercial Boeing, SpaceX Test Flights

HOUSTON — NASA has named its first commercial crew "cadre" — four astronauts who will train to fly on board the first test flights of Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The agency Thursday (July 9) announced that astronauts Bob Behnken, Eric Boe, Doug Hurley and Sunita ("Suni") Williams will train alongside the companies' own test pilots for the commercial capsules' maiden crewed missions to the International Space Station.

Enormous Black Hole Is Too Big for Its Galaxy

A newfound giant black hole nearly as massive as 7 billion suns is dozens of times larger than astronomers expected given its host galaxy's size, researchers say. This finding may call most current models of galaxy formation into question, scientists added. Astronomers investigated a supermassive black hole known as CID-947, located about 22 billion light-years from Earth, using the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft.

Earth Is Losing Its Bumblebees

Climate change is causing wild bumblebees to disappear from large swaths of their historical range, which could spell disaster for pollinating crops in Europe and North America, new research suggests. "They just aren't colonizing new areas to track rapid, human-caused climate change," study co-author Jeremy Kerr, a biologist at the University of Ottawa, said at a news conference. But bumblebees are the real superstars of the pollinating world.

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